No audio input

[Blue and White]

For some reason I'm having problems with my sound input.

I haven't used my microphone for about 5 weeks. Today I've plugged it in, and noticed there's no sound input capability at all.

Using Windows 2000, I've gone into the Control Panel, and into Sounds and Multimedia.... I click on the Audio tab, and under Sound Recording click the Volume button... Recording Controller comes up, and under Controlling Balance I cannot mute or unmute, as the feature has been disabled.

So somehow the audio input has been turned off.

Any clue how I can turn it back on?

Cheers.

 

[Blue and White]

Okay, so I have an IBM ThinkPad 380Z laptop, and I run Windows 2000. According to an IBM website (http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/DSHY-3XWNVG.html?qse.380z#Audio), Windows 2000 contains the ThinkPad 380Z audio drivers.

So, how do I re-install them?

Do I need to completely re-install Windows 2000? I've played around with the W2K CD, and there don't seem to be any provisions for just updating a single driver.... any ideas?

 

[Blue and White]

I think I've finally pinned down what my problem is - my internal laptop microphone has been activated after being dormant for years. I didn't even realize my computer had an internal mic!

When I try to record sound without an external mic, the internal mic successfully records sound.... the problem is that if I turn the audio output up to a significant level, it produces deafening feedback.

When I plug in an external mic, it toggles the internal mic. However, the external mic does not pick up any sound, so that no sound is recorded at all.

I guess somehow my crazy computer re-activated the internal microphone after all these years, and it is causing a conflict with my external mic.

Any tips on how to de-activate my internal mic so that I can use an external one?

Cheers.